Bernard M. (Bernie) Churchill |
| Posted 2009-08-07 by Sharon |
| The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ May 23, 2007, p. A12 Funeral services for Mr. Bernard M. Churchill, age 72, were held Saturday, May 19 at the Redeemer Lutheran Church with Pastor Greg Werdin officiating. Concluding services and interment followed in the Morristown Cemetery. Bernard was born in 1934 to Bertha and Melvin Churchill in the small town of Geneva, Neb. He alson with his dog helped his dad in the cornfields and with many odd jobs around the farm. He went to a small one-room school until he reached the eighth grade. His mother passed away when he was 11 years old, at which time he moved into the town of Geneva where he lived with his grandmother until graduation. While in high school he participated in Future Farmers of America raising two calves and some chickens to show. Bernard’s father remarried and two boys were born - Dr. Melvin Churchill of Lincoln and Roy Churchill “deceased.” After graduation from high school he and several of his friends embarked on several different jobs, none making a go of it, so he moved to York, neb., 10 miles north and began driving a gravel truck. Here he met and married Marilyn Boling and along came a son Monty Melvin in 1956. Needing a steady paycheck, Bernard moved his small family to Lincoln, Neb., where he started working for a small company in the computer industry. They purchased a small two-bedroom house. Seven years later a daughter was born, Julie Jo in 1963. Needing life insurance for his increasing family, Bernard purchased some from a company by the name of Banker’s Life Insurance of Nebraska. The salesman mentioned that this company had an opening in the computer department and that Bernard should apply. He did and a week later he started working at Banker’s Life Insurance Company of Nebraska and stayed there for 36 years going through several different types of computer systems. Shortly after starting work there the name “Bernie” was placed on him and stayed with him until his passing. Unfortunately after 18 years, Marilyn and Bernie’s marriage ended. He met and married Diana in Lincoln. They were married May 1, 1976 and had a happy busy 31-year marriage. Diana had two children Ken and Kathleen Magruder. Both children married and have given us nine happy grandkids. Ken and wife Amy live in Greeley, Col., and have four boys and two girls from a previous marriage. Kathleen and husband Reid Baker live in Prague, Neb., and daughter Julie and husband Church Kerley live in Phoenix with daughter Kelly. In 1992 Bernie retired from the Ameritus Insurance Co., to become a stay-at-home husband. In 1994 Diana got tired of driving in the snow and ice that seemed to come every winter to Lincoln so she found a job in Wickenburg, Ariz., in the hospital medical records department. We moved out here over Memorial Day weekend and purchased a home in Circle City. Bernie loved to drive around the area making new friends so he could return later and spin some tall tales, setting on the front porch every morning talking to everyone that walked by, as he knew a lot of people around Circle City. He also enjoyed fishing –catching few fish – camping, teaching his granddaughter Kelly Jo how to fish and ride a bike, watching NASCAR races on TV, cheering for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and rooting for our favorite sons (Suns). In March of 2004 he was diagnosed with colon/liver cancer, undergoing chemotherapy weekly since that time. On Tuesday, May 15 at 5:15 p.m. he was taken from this world to continue his life in heaven and, as we all like to think, fishing and spinning tall tales with our grandpa and his dad. Arrangements were under the direction of Wickenburg Funeral Home. See Also: Find a Grave |
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